posted on January 6th, 2011 by Tobias in Audio, Jamaican Artists, Video
Credit: Filmed and edited by Michael Katzif; photo by Abby Verbosky/NPR
For the latest installment of their Tiny Desk Concert series, NPR’s Bob Boilen and Robin Hilton invited Reggae artist Gyptian who performed »Nah Let Go«, »Beautiful Lady«, and, of course, »Hold You«.
That melody does not quit, and the whole song really lives in Gyptian’s voice. When it first came to the public’s attention last spring, it came via an unmastered leak. The song needs no bells and whistles — no pitch-shifting, no fashionable electronic drum sounds to squirm its way into your ear. (Frannie Kelley)
Funny fact: »Hold You« was not only the biggest international Reggae tune of 2010 but also Jamaica’s most complained about song for 2010 according to latest data from the Broadcast Commission of Jamaica (via Jamaica Observer).
Listen to the audio of Gyptian’s Tiny Desk performance below and watch the video of his studio concert on the NPR website (via Ross Sheil).
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Download Gyptian’s Tiny Desk Concert at NPR
posted on December 23rd, 2010 by Tobias in Article, Jamaican Artists, Jamaican Style
With the Christmas holidays coming up, here are three lately-published interviews for your reading and listening pleasure:
Erin MacLeod meets Anicee Gaddis
© Allessandro Zuek Simonetti
For Large Up, Erin MacLeod talks to Anicee Gaddis, former executive editor of Trace magazine and now writer for Puma and Chris Blackwell amongst others. Together with photographer Alessandro »Zuek« Simonetti she just published »Small Kings« – a collection of impressions from Passa Passa, Swatch International’s world-famous street dance on Spanish Town Road at Bread Lane, in Kingston, Jamaica.
Jamaica is more than the sum of its parts. It’s layered. The people are layered an nuanced and spiritual—not necessarily in the religious sense, but in the human sense. They have such an internal beauty that is expressed in the culture and the dancing and the music and the soundbattles. Jamaicans as a people are some of the richest and most gorgeous that I have encountered. And I think that the true expression of that is for me at something like Passa Passa where you see so many dimensions.
Read the whole interview.
Marvin Sparks meets Vybz Kartel
© Kingstonstyle
For MTV UK, Marvin Sparks talks to deejay Vybz Kartel e.g. about his early days as ghost writer for Bounty Killer, his collaborations with British artist Kano and his upcoming Dre Skull-produced album on Mixpak Records (see the video announcement here).
We’ve got a record that we’re working on for next year with Dre Skull from Mixpak records. He’s this white kid from New York that builds some sick beats. So next year me and him – Adidjaheim records/Mixpak records – it’s going to be for April. We haven’t even started the promotion for the album yet. It’s going to be like 14 exclusive tracks.
Read the whole interview: part 1 – part 2.
Kimmo Matthews talks to Christopher »Dog Paw« Linton
© Clovis
For the Jamaican Observer, reporter Kimmo Matthews speaks to 24-year old wanted man Christopher »Dog Paw« Linton via phone about life on the run.
Life? Life is very stressing first of all. I’m kind of stressed out every day. [...] It makes you want to drink. It makes you want to smoke a weed or cigarette. It’s very frustrating.
Listen to the whole interview.
posted on December 7th, 2010 by Tobias in Free Download, Jamaican Artists, Photography
© Peter Dean Rickards
Even though I do not know how this Beatnick edit of Bruno Mars’ and Damian Marley’s »Liquor Store Blues« differs from the original version I posted back in September and despite the fact that every other Bruno Mars track I have heard so far was as whack as it gets, I am happy to have found a working download link for »Liquor Store Blues« over at Chromemusic. Especially as Peter Dean Rickards posted some nice shots from Junior Gong’s and Nas’ Distant Relatives show in Trinidad this week – which come handy for this post.
Definitely one of my top 10 reggae tunes this year.
Download Bruno Mars & Damian Marley »Liquor Store Blues« (Beatnick edit)
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posted on December 1st, 2010 by Tobias in Event, Jamaican Artists, Photography
If you are lucky enough to not be stuck at a German airport due to heavy snow fall but find yourself in Trinidad and Tobago right now, we heavily recommend to visit »Show & Tell 12« at studiofilmclub tomorrow night.
The final installment of the Show & Tell event series this year will see
a decade of Jamaican cultural documentation through digital, photography, music, video, and writing
by our friend Peter Dean Rickards. Rickards will be showing his work in Laventille near Port of Spain.
Find more information on the event over at Ross Sheil’s blog and RSVP via Facebook.
PS: Don’t leave Trinidad after the event but make sure to go see Damian Marley and Nas performing at the Hasley Crawford Stadium two days later. The latter might even wear one of our shirts…
posted on November 21st, 2010 by Tobias in Audio, Jamaican Artists, SEEN Interviews
After »Buckup« has been on available via name your own price on Bandcamp for one week now, tomorrow will see the official release of Wildlife!‘s new EP featuring reggae artists Major Mackerel, Sammy Dread and Terry Lynn on the microphone.
As we really like the concept of each of these artists representing one decade in dancehall music, we linked up with Wildlife! aka Samuel Riot to chat about his memories of and thoughts about dancehall music in the 80s, the 90s and in the present – as well as about some other stories behind the »Buckup« project:
Could you please sum up what these three decades – the 80s, the 90s and the present – mean for you personally (regarding to dancehall)?
I got into dancehall in the early nineties, so this particular era will always remain very special to me. Artists like Ninja Man, Cobra, Buju, Johnny P or Beenie & Bounty were the ones that got me going as a youngster. It was a friend of mine who would send me soundsystem tapes from New York that really got me into soundsystem culture, so the whole 90′s New York scene also was a huge influence. Sounds like Massive B, Afrique, LP or King Addies and artists like Supercat, Shinehead, Rayvon, Mackerel or Sluggy were my heroes.
Read the rest of "»Supercat, Shinehead or Sluggy were my heroes.«" →
